Lone Star State, Day Seven

 Travel Day and Ice Cream and Rivers

Today, we traveled from Houston to San Antonio and because we were on vacation, we didn't hurry and made a few stops along the way. Below are some pictures from our day.

First stop was the Bluebell ice cream factory. Most people think their local ice cream is the best and Texans are no different. But I would agree that Bluebell ice cream is quite good.

I thought this little free library was cute. 

We love their motto.

Of course, we had to have some samples.

Although Bluebell has expanded their operations quite a bit, they haven't made it to Maryland yet. I was impressed when I learned that they still sell full 1/2 gallon cartons, not like the others who have reduced them 1 1/2 quarts. They are proud of that and print it on their box.

The area had a park with a statue of their logo, as well as a museum and observation deck where you could watch them making ice cream. They were making Christmas cookie ice cream when we were watching. No pictures were allowed in this area.

Even though we had just had ice cream, Ward asked about a good BBQ place for lunch. A most helpful lady steered us to Truth BBQ which was in the top 10 BBQ places in Texas in 2025. And believe me, there is a lot competition for that in Texas. Ward had ribs and I had a brisket sandwich. Both were quite good.

We were finally back on the road with only a few stops to take pictures of wildflowers.

 

At five o'clock, we finally arrived in San Antonio and checked into our hotel. Next up was the world famous River Walk. We had visited here years ago (are you getting tired of the "years ago" theme yet?😁) and this was something that Ward wanted to do again.

The River Walk sits below street level and is lined with sidewalks, shops, and landscaping. It is quite popular.

However, the San Antonio River was not as crowded as the sidewalks. We did a river tour on one of those little boats.

On our tour, we learned that they drain the river and clean it every couple of years. They had done it only a couple of months ago and found over 1000 cell phones among other things.

We headed back to our hotel a few blocks away. Luckily, it was starting to cool off. Earlier it was in the low 90s. However, it was not as humid as Houston, so it felt better.

Until next time...

Lone Star State, Day five and slx

 Friends and Gardens

The hotel we were staying in is under construction, and we decided there were too many noises and chemical smells to stay. Our plan was to book a room in the adjacent sister hotel. The staff bent over backwards to help with the move, and we got an upgrade for the same price. Now we have a little apartment with all of the amenities and are quite comfortable. We are not complaining. 😀

We had a fun time visiting with old friends.

Yesterday, we meet with old friends from our New Orleans days. We have kept in touch sporadically over the years, but have not met in person in 30 years. And you know what? We picked up right where we left off. It's great when it works out that way.

Today, we went to Mercer Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. This was another family favorite when we lived here. Many of the gardens were wiped out during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, but they have rebuilt them beautifully. Here are some pictures from our visit. Yesterday, you saw a lot of animals. Today, you'll see a lot of flowers (and maybe a few animals).

Mercer Botanical Gardens and Arboretum is named for Theresa Mercer and her husband. She was an avid gardener and started the garden on 14.5 acres. Today it is owned by Harris County and has over 300 acres.

Ward studying a map of the gardens. This koi pond was a favorite of Wally and Theo's back in the day.

Cypress swamp

Bluebonnets (Texas state flower)

We saw several people using the gardens for a photo shoot. I assume this is for a quinceañera.

This nice couple stopped their photo shoot and volunteered to take a picture of Ward and me.
Check out her outfit. Those are laced, leather pants with fur around the bottom. We don't have any pictures of the cheesecake bathing suit shoot that was going on.

On the other side of the park , there were a couple of miles of paved trails that Ward and I walked. I was getting hot near the end. The temperatures were only in the mid-high 80s, but it was very humid.

Then, it was back to the hotel to do some laundry. For dinner, we went to an In-n-Out Burger. I've heard about how great they were for years, but have never seen one before. Our opinion: They were pretty good for a fast food burger, but nothing to write home about.

Until next time...

Lone Star State, Day Four

Zoo and Nostalgia

Before moving to Maryland, we lived in Houston for ten years and part of this trip was planned to visit some of our old haunts. First up was the Houston Zoo. We visited there often when the boys were young, and it was a family favorite. It did not disappoint all of these years later. 

Below are some pictures of our day. BTW, get ready for a lot of animal pictures.😀

The zoo was busy with timed entries. We saw lots of strollers and kids on school field trips. but it was not too crowded to enjoy things. The field trip kids reminded me of when I went with Andrew here on his first grade field trip.

Galapagos tortoises

Orangutan

Baby Asian Elephant Kirby. She is a year and a half old.

Zoo humor elephant sculpture

Male African Lion

Female African lion

Ankole cattle

Malayan tiger. Even though this tiger weighs over 300 pounds, it looks just like a house cat when it's sleeping.

Cheetah 

Giraffes

Mongoose

Whooping crane. I had special interest in this bird since I recently read a book about Texas whooping cranes.

Bald eagle

After the zoo, we drove around our old neighborhood and found our former house. Both have aged well.

And we ended the day with some good Texas bbq. Ward had ribs and brisket and I had a baked potato.

Until next time...

Lone Star State-Day Three

 Waco

We took off this morning from Dallas (really Plano, suburb of Dallas) to head south to Houston. After we figured out the several complicated interchanges, we made it out of town to the open road. Goodness, this part of Texas is flat. Our first stop was Waco, a couple of hours down the road. Below are some pictures from there.

First stop was a place where they found several fossils for the now extinct Colombian mammoth. The original 13 complete mammoths they found were given to Baylor university.

Everything else has been left in place and is part of an active dig. If you study the picture you can make out the parts of the mammoth that died in place. At the very least, the tusks are easy to see. I was very excited to see the actual bones/fossils because in museums you usually see only models or plaster replicas. We also saw remains of an ancient camel, giant tortoise, and a saber-tooth tiger.

 

We also hiked a short trail that was part of an Eagle Scout Project. Wally and Theo are both Eagle Scouts and I've been around quite a few projects. However, this is the fanciest project sign I've ever seen.

Next up was the Brazos River Riverwalk in downtown Waco.

Ward wanted to see the historic Waco suspension bridge there.

I was happy to see the full-size bronze sculptures of a cattle drive.

The heat was building so we decided it was time to move inside with a visit to the Dr. Pepper museum. Dr. Pepper was invented by a young pharmacist, Charles Alderton, who mixed 26 flavors for the winning combination.

The museum was very well done and at the site of the former bottling plant.

At the end, we got a coupon for a free Dr. Pepper. Too bad that I can't stand the stuff, but Ward was happy.

And if you watch much HGTV, no visit to Waco would be complete without a visit to Chip and Joanna Gaines' Silos.

However, they are closed on Sunday.

Then we got on the road for a few more hours to Houston. We took the back roads looking for the famous Texas bluebonnets that are in bloom now. We saw many along the way. BTW, I think the camera did a pretty good job capturing these flowers at 60 mph.

It was another good, but tiring day.

Until next time...